2017 SMU Data Analytics team places among top 3 in the nation

The 2017 SMU Data Analytics Team made up Priyanka Chakraborty (Economics), Tingting Hu (Economics and Statistics), Garrison Leach (Economics), and Xiaojie Zhu (Statistics) were notified on August 3, 2017 that they have been selected as one of the top 3 finalist teams for the 2017 SAS Analytics Shootout. The team, coached by Professor Tom Fomby, will discover their final ranking on September 18 at the 2017 SAS Analytics Conference to be held in Washington, DC September 18 - 20. Approximately 5,000 Data Scientists from all over the world will be attending the conference. All 3 teams will be making their presentations of their analytic solutions to this year’s problem statement at the conference. The team submitted a 65 page report plus detailed data management documents describing the data management part of the solution. According to SAS officials there were 80+ participants in the competition this year from colleges and universities across the country. In the last ten years, SMU teams have garnered 2 National Championships, 3 Silver medals, 4 honorable mentions, in addition to this year’s top 3 finish.